LIVE EXPORT — ANIMAL MISTREATMENT
771. Hon LYNN MacLAREN to the Minister
for Agriculture and Food:
(1) Has the
minister seen the graphic video images from Jordan shown on Lateline last night of Australian sheep
killed while still conscious and left to bleed on the street?
(2) Is this practice permissible in
Western Australia?
(3) In Western Australian abattoirs are sheep required to be
stunned before they are slaughtered?
(4) What is the purpose of pre-stunning an animal before
slaughter?
Hon
KEN BASTON replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of this
question.
(1) No, I have
not, but my department advises that the images from Lateline showed unacceptable handling and slaughter of sheep at
roadside stalls outside approved supply chains in Jordan. The matter is under
investigation by the federal Department of Agriculture.
(2) No.
(3) All cattle
and the vast majority of sheep processed in WA are stunned first, including
those slaughtered to meet halal conditions. An exception to pre-slaughter
stunning is allowed under the ''Australian Standard for the Hygienic
Production and Transportation of Meat and Meat Products for Human Consumption''—AS
4696:2007—for a small number of sheep in WA, less than 60 a year on
average, which are processed to meet kosher requirements.
(4) The purpose of stunning is to
render the animal unconscious before slaughter.